Apparatus for extracting vegetable oil



Oct. 12, 1948. 1 1 FORD APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING'VIEGETABLE OIL 2 sheets-sheet v1 Fi1ed Aug. 24. 1943 Aww.

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Patented Oct. 12, 1948 TNT FFICE.

APPARATUS. FOR EXTRACTING VEGETABLE OIL.

Lesteri. lorat,` Eufania; Ala.

Appiicationnugust 24, 1943Serial No; 49958.73v

(Cl. 23e- 267) 2 Claims. 1.

rL'his inventionV relates.v to an apparatus for ex,- tracting vegetable oil, and provides for subjecting thematerial toa solvent circulated in a machine, wherein provisionis made for sealing the contents of the rnachine'and` parts thereof so that vapors-will not escape except-through channels provided for their circulation. For extracting vegetable oil a number of. elements may be employed, as solvents, and uid such as the hexane group, including benzine, aviation gasoline and petroleum ether, has been successfully used, so long as it has a boiling point under 170 degrees F. and leaves no objectionable residue, so that in the further description, the term solvent will be employed to include suitable iiuid that is used for the purpose and havingthe above characteristics.

It is a further object of this invention to provide novel means for circulating the material and the solvent, for delivering the material to an extraction chamber, wherein the extraction chamber is inclined to retard the too rapid descent of the material in the solvent and including` a means by which material is removed from the cham-berand conveyed through'a heated zone where vapors from the material are exhausted and from which the spent material is discharged. Theinvention also may include means for collecting vapors of the solvent,l condensingr such vapors, and returning themy to the fluid reser voir, from. which they may again enter the extraction chamber.

An object furthermore istoprovide means for sealing the vapors inside the machine and so long as the feeder hopper'reniains loaded, the screw forms a seal.

A further object of the invention is to produce in combination a plurality of elements coacting in sequence or time, which results in a complete automatic operation.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists in the details of construction, and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this application, wherein like characters denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a View in elevation, partly in section, showing one side of the apparatus;

Figure 2 illustrates a similar view of the apparatus at right angles to that shown in Figure l;

.Figure 3 illustrates a sectional view of a part of the apparatus on the line 3 3 of Fig. l; and

Figure 4 illustrates a sectional view of the evaporator on the line #3 4 of Figure l.

In these drawings IU denotes an elongated inclined extraction chamber which may be re-` garded as an elevator shaft or housing, in which.

sprocket wheeland chain. The extraction chaml ber hasv a laterally extending pocket E3 in one side wall of which a conveyor shaft V.' is jour naled, the said shaft havingy a screw E3 thereon, and it is shown that the conveyor screw operates in the bottom of a feed storage bin i9 and that the shaft Il projects through the wall of the storage bin and is journaled therein. The outer end of the shaft is provided with power transmitting means 20, such as a sprocket wheel and chain.

A screw conveyor 2l has a shaft 22 which extends laterally through the extraction chamber above the end of the pocket l5 of said extraction chamber and it is open at the top for the purpose of receiving the treated material which is elevated in the extraction chamber, as will pre:n ently appear. The screw conveyor 2i extends through a steam jacket 23, the heat from which causes the vapor in the material to rise and escape through the pipe 2 from whence it discharges into a condensing coil 25, the condensation being returned to the fluid reservoir and the-fluid from the reservoir enters the extraction chamber through the pipe 2l and of coursecommingleswith the material delivered to it.from.the feed storage bin. The steam jacket is provided with steam through the pipe Elia which enters the chamber 23h of the steam jacket.

It is seen that the extraction chamber It is elongated and set on an incline and material delivered to it is retarded in its descent by reason of the engagement of the material with the inclined side of the chamber. The shaft Il has sprocket wheels such as 28 mounted on it and these are engaged by sprocket chains such as 29, which sprocket chains operate over similar sprocket wheels such as 36 near the bottom of the extraction chamber. The shaft 3| on which the sprocket wheels 3Q are mounted is journaled in bearings 32 carried by a yoke 33 which is adjustable to regulate the tension of the chains through the medium of screws l rotatably mounted in a cross bar 35 extending from one side wall to the other of the extraction chamber and secured thereto in any appropriate way.

The sprocket chains are provided with perw forated buckets 3E which collect material in the bottom of the extraction chamber and carry it upward and over the top of the shaft li, from whence it is deposited in the conveyor 2| and transferred by the screw through the steam jack- Within the extraction chamber there is an outlet 37 with a pipe 38 communicating with an evaporator 39 provided with a steam jacket 40.

The evaporator has ns 4| on its floor alternately terminating at the sides of the chamber so that the iiuid circulates back and forth along the fins, and the finished, reclaimed oil escapes through the pipe l2 to a suitable reservoir or receptacle. A lter 37a, protects the outlet from receiving anything but iiuid reaching the pipe 38. The extraction chamber is thus divided into a vapor space above the said outlet, whereas that part of the extraction chamber below the said outlet is a liquid space. The extraction chamber has a longitudinally disposed partition i9 divid-v ing the extraction chamber' so that the buckets travel downwardly between the partition and the wall of the extraction chamber and upwardly on the other side of the partition in a space between said partition and the opposite wall of the extraction chamber. These separate spaces are formed for the down traveling course of the buckets and for the up traveling course of the buckets. These compartments, separated as they are between the ends of the extraction chamber, connect with that part of the extraction chamber at the bottom or boot above the sprocket yoke and connect with the top part below the upper sprocket wheels.

It is seen that the evaporator has a hood i3 for the collection of vapors arising from the evaporator, and the said vapors escape through the pipe 44 to condenser 25 and the condensate thereof also reaches the fluid reservoir 25 through the connections l5 heretofore described as leading to the fluid reservoir.

I claim:

1 An extraction apparatus combination comprising an elongated inclined extraction chamber having shafts positioned at its upper and lower end, an endless conveyor operated by said shafts, perforated buckets on said conveyor arranged to travel with small clearance with the walls of said chamber and in upward flight to raise material from the bottom section of said chamber for drainage through said perforated baskets and in its downward flight to force material downwardly into said bottom section, a central partition in said chamber dividing said flights so that liquid admitted thereto in the upflight compartment iiows downwardly and under the partition for drainage in the downiiight compartment, an inlet for extraction liquid in the upper portion of said upflight compartment, an overflow outlet for the micella, a iirst screw conveyor extending into the upper portion of said downflight compartment of the chamber, and a second screw conveyor extending into said downight compartment above said rst conveyor and arranged to receive material discharged from said'baskets on commencement of said downward ight.

2, Apparatus as delined in claim 1 in combination with an evaporator to which the micella is delivered from the overflow outlet, a condenser to which vapors of the extraction liquid are delivered from the evaporator, a vapor pipe leading from the top of the extraction chamber to the condenser, and an outlet for the nished product leading from the evaporator.

LESTER L. FORD.

REFERENCES CITED The icllowing references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 357,528 Herreshof Feb. 8, 1887 550,035 Wheeler l Nov. 19, 1895 615,968 Craney Dec. 13, 1898 720,789 vDelattre Feb. 17, 1903 913,751 Mills Mar. 2, 1909 yl,6.'l4,361 Sterling Dec. 4, 1928 2,088,190 Du Pont July 27, 1937V 2,187,208 McDonald Jan. 16, 1940 2,264,390 Levine Dec. 2, 1941 2,273,557 Bonotto Feb. 17, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country I Date 215,113 Great Britain May 6, 1924 

